Quick Start

Get Maya talking to an MCP host in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Maya 2020 or later (Python 3.7+)
• An MCP-compatible host: Claude Desktop, Cursor, or OpenClaw

Step 1 — Install

Install into Maya's Python interpreter:

mayapy -m pip install dcc-mcp-maya

For a specific Maya version (Windows example):

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2024\bin\mayapy.exe" -m pip install dcc-mcp-maya

Step 2 — Load the Maya Plugin

Open Maya, then load dcc_mcp_maya_plugin.py:

1. Open Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager.
2. Browse to or find maya/plugin/dcc_mcp_maya_plugin.py.
3. Enable Loaded.
4. Enable Auto load if Maya should start MCP every session.

The plugin starts the Maya bridge, starts or joins the local gateway, and installs the Qt dispatcher required by Maya main-thread tools.

For auto-start without the Plug-in Manager, copy or source the bundled maya/userSetup.py. It defers plugin loading until Maya is idle.

Step 3 — Configure Your MCP Host

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "maya": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9765/mcp"
    }
  }
}

File locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Restart Claude Desktop after editing.

Cursor

In Cursor settings → MCP Servers, add:

{
  "maya": {
    "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9765/mcp"
  }
}

Any MCP Client

Plugin mode exposes one gateway endpoint for MCP hosts:

http://127.0.0.1:9765/mcp

Step 4 — Execute Your First Action

In Claude Desktop (or your MCP host), try:

"Create a red sphere in Maya"

Your agent should discover tools, load the needed skills such as maya-primitives and maya-materials, then call the typed Maya tools.

Or be more specific:

"Create a polygon sphere with radius 2 at position (0, 1, 0) and name it 'ball'"

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
DCC_MCP_MAYA_PORT	OS-assigned	Optional fixed TCP port for the MCP instance
DCC_MCP_MAYA_SERVER_NAME	maya-mcp	Name shown in MCP initialize response
DCC_MCP_MAYA_SKILL_PATHS	(empty)	Extra skill search roots (; on Windows, : on Unix); use a root like {rez_root}/skills whose children are skill packages
DCC_MCP_GATEWAY_PORT	9765 in plugin mode	Local gateway URL used by MCP hosts

Stop the Server

Unload the plugin from Plug-in Manager, or run import dcc_mcp_maya; dcc_mcp_maya.stop_server() if you started the Python server manually.

Manual Direct Server

Direct start_server() is useful for debugging and mayapy scripts. In Maya GUI, pass a UI dispatcher so affinity: main tools run on Maya's main thread:

from dcc_mcp_maya.dispatcher import MayaUiDispatcher, MayaUiPump
import dcc_mcp_maya

dispatcher = MayaUiDispatcher()
MayaUiPump(dispatcher).install()
handle = dcc_mcp_maya.start_server(host_dispatcher=dispatcher)
print(handle.mcp_url())   # exact OS-assigned direct URL

For mayapy, follow the standalone guide: pass a MayaStandaloneDispatcher and call dispatcher.drain_queue(8) in the main loop. Headless Maya still requires scene commands on its initialization thread; blocking that thread prevents HTTP scene requests from completing.

Agents normally use the stable gateway on http://127.0.0.1:9765/mcp. Run dcc-mcp-cli list when the exact direct URL is required.

Next Steps

• Installation Guide — plugin mode, userSetup.py, multi-Maya setup
• MCP Tools Guide — full list of available tools with examples
• Advanced Usage — custom skills, main-thread scheduling